nRF8001 discoverable to Broadcom BCM20702

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hoggsroaming
 
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nRF8001 discoverable to Broadcom BCM20702

Post by hoggsroaming »

Hello,
I've a lenovo T400 running WinXP sp3. The BLE is provided by a Broadcom BCM20702 plugable USB bluetooth 4.0 dongle (http://plugable.com/products/usb-bt4le) I see that Nordic and Broadcom worked together and the devices claim to be compatible.
http://www.nordicsemi.com/eng/News/News ... e-security
Using WinXP 'Explore My Bluetooth Places' I can discover my iPhone 4S and MacBook Air, and can successfully transfer files.
I've also an Arduino connected to your nRF8001, and using the supplied echoDemo sketch I can successfully transmit and receive data between the Arduino console and iPhone running the nRF UART app.
So far so good; but I'm wondering why, when the echoDemo nRF8001 program is in 'advertising' mode - not connected- , WinXP is unable to discover the nRF8001. I realize that I'd be unable to transfer any data to the WinXP machine without changing the echoDemo sketch; but I would of thought the nRF8001 would of been discovered by the Broadcom BCM20702 plugable USB bluetooth 4.0 dongle

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: nRF8001 discoverable to Broadcom BCM20702

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

WinXP and Win7 don't support BLE, unfortunately. You need Win8.1

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hoggsroaming
 
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Re: nRF8001 discoverable to Broadcom BCM20702

Post by hoggsroaming »

Are you saying that whilst the Broadcom on WinXP will operate in standard Bluetooth mode, it will not switch into LE mode unless the laptop is running Win8.1?
This seems odd as Broadcom claim the USB will operate in LE mode when running under WinXP.
The Broadcom is working when communication with an iPhone 4S (which is a LE phone that also works with the nFR8001) but the Broadcom cannot discover the nFR8001.

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: nRF8001 discoverable to Broadcom BCM20702

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

I'm not familiar with the Broadcom package. It's my understanding that you need Windows 8.1 for BLE. Perhaps the Broadcom package adds that to XP. I don't know.

However, since the nRF8001 works with your phone, then I must conclude that there's something wrong with your Windows configuration.

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hoggsroaming
 
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Re: nRF8001 discoverable to Broadcom BCM20702

Post by hoggsroaming »

Hello yes, the Broadcom package (http://plugable.com/products/usb-bt4le) provides BLE for WinXP sp3.

I agree that your nFR8001 is working perfectly with the echoDemo iPhone app; but it's interesting that the Mac cannot 'discover' the nRF8001. I think your right, the problem maybe something to do some configuration file somewhere in the stack.

But just to check, would you expect the nRF8001 running the echoDemo sketch to be 'discoverable' (Advertising started) by any BLE device in search mode?

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: nRF8001 discoverable to Broadcom BCM20702

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

Yes, the nRF8001 should be discoverable when advertising is started.

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